Maryland Ranked Sixth for New National Award
9/28/2004 8:00:00 AM | Terrapin Athletics
Sept. 28, 2004
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - The University of Maryland Department of Intercollegiate Athletics was ranked sixth in the nation in a comprehensive rating system that determines the new Excellence in Athletics Cup, an award developed by the Laboratory for the Study of Intercollegiate Athletics at Texas A&M University.
The award was created to recognize all-around achievement in athletics and areas associated with student-athletes, said Mike Sagas, director of the LSIA. "Other awards, such as the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA) Cup, recognize schools for their achievements on the field only in national level competition."
"We created the Excellence in Athletics Cup to recognize the all-around achievements of athletic departments, not just wins and losses in NCAA competition. We think this award is more representative of what makes up an outstanding athletic department."
The national award is based on a point system utilizing key programmatic areas that include (1) excellence in graduation rates of student-athletes compared to the overall undergraduate population, (2) excellence in gender-equity opportunities and (3) scholarship allocation by gender, (4) excellence in efficient use of financial resources, (5) excellence in African-American graduation rates, and (6) national postseason finishes as measured by the United States Sports Academy Directors' Cup.
Maryland was the top school in the Atlantic Coast Conference in the overall national ranking, which utilized only national rankings rather than conference finish. Penn State topped the national award list, followed by Stanford, Ohio State, Washington and Arizona. Purdue, Villanova, Arizona State and Mississippi State rounded out the top 10.
"Maryland is proud to be recognized for overall achievement in these key programmatic areas," said Deborah A. Yow, director of athletics at Maryland. "I want to thank our staff, the campus community and our boosters for their consistent support."
The next highest ACC school in the national rankings was Duke, which placed 20th in the rating.
"The winning schools, and those that finished near the top of the rankings, are universities that are successful in and out of the classroom," said Sagas. "We hope that all of the athletic departments analyzed in the 2004 program will use the data and rankings to assess areas in which they can improve against their peer institutions."
